Prince of Wales to invest in energy-from-waste enterprise

The Prince of Wales, supermarket retailer Sainsbury and financier Jacob Rothschild are among investors backing an energy-from-waste enterprise with more than £65 million.

The newly launched enterprise, Tamar Energy, plans to develop a network of over 40 anaerobic digestion plants over the next five years to generate 100 MW of electricity.

Chair of Tamar Energy, Alan Lovell, says the investment is “game changing” for a sector that has suffered from a historic lack of financing.

Sainsbury is investing £2 million in the venture and says it will work with its suppliers to give them access to Tamar Energy’s plants to reduce waste in the supply chain.

“With the support of our suppliers we are very confident that this new venture will be a success, helping build Tamar Energy into the UK’s leading green energy company,” commented Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King.

The project has also been endorsed by Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey, who commented:
“This is the sort of project that will be crucial for keeping the lights on and emissions down in the UK… Energy from waste has the potential to make a substantial contribution to our renewable energy targets and so I look forward to seeing Tamar’s plans come to fruition.”

Britain currently boasts over 200 anaerobic digestion facilities, which convert organic waste material to biogas using bacteria. The biogas can either be cleaned up and fed into the gas grid or used in local generation plants to produce electricity.